Before we had podcasts, neverending playlists, and social media, late-night call-in radio shows offered night owls a stream of new music, friendly voices, and the chance to share their thoughts with fellow insomniacs. And on one night in 1987, one such show offered the people of Gallows Creek their only way to survive a killing spree.

In Team17’s Killer Frequency, you play as Forrest Nash, host of the midnight call-in block on local radio station 189.16 – The Scream. Part-comedy, part-horror, Killer Frequency is a first-person puzzle game that puts Nash in the unfortunate position of substitute 911 dispatcher for a small town with a serial killer on the loose.

Taking place entirely within The Scream’s office — and mostly behind the desk of its resident DJ — Killer Frequency is a charming, inventive puzzler that has more than enough personality to make up for its somewhat shallow mechanics.

Along with your producer Peggy, you run your own radio show, from choosing which tunes to play to answering calls from sleepless residents. Killer Frequency opens with a frantic call from a 911 dispatcher who’s just discovered the dead body of Gallows Creek’s sheriff.

Unable to reach a neighboring town for help, the dispatcher heads there for support in person, putting Nash — the only person who can field calls and speak to the whole town at once — in charge.

Killer Frequency takes place well before cell phones and Google, and Nash is the next best thing for Gallows Creek’s residents. When listeners call in, your best resource is information.

Puzzles have you guiding one resident through a corn maze using a map, strategically ordering takeout to pass messages to survivors, and walking callers through first aid techniques. 

At first, I was captivated. Killer Frequency feels surprisingly like Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, an excellent two-player game that challenges you to relay defusal instructions to your partner who’s trapped in a room with a bomb.

Likewise, you act as a conduit for information in Killer Frequency. But here, you find your life-saving advice by scouring the radio station’s office. Sometimes you’ll swipe a magazine from the host of a car repair show, other times you’ll dig through personnel files. Each puzzle is a self-contained exercise in gathering clues and using logic to piece them together.

Around halfway through the 4.5-hour game, though, the formula began to get old. While every puzzle is unique, the familiar loop of walking through the station to find clues and returning to your radio to answer questions feels repetitive after a while. 

Getting your listeners out of jam is still satisfying every time, but I started to feel like Killer Frequency was wasting its killer premise. It’s the only game I’ve ever played that put me in the shoes of a radio DJ, but as far as the puzzles go, you could just as well be the 911 dispatcher, or any random person with a walkie talkie. 

When I started the game, I was excited to play with all the gadgets on Nash’s desk. At your disposal are record and cassette players, three phone lines, and a soundboard. I was eager to see how these would play into puzzle solving, but as it turns out, they don’t. Every caller is essentially a logic puzzle, and they never put the unique tools you have as a DJ to use.

Killer Frequency’s story feels similarly divided between its individual puzzles and its overall plot. While you’re saving callers from imminent death, you’re also slowly piecing together the motives of the serial killer stalking Gallows Creek.

Your conversations with survivors sprinkle in small clues to the overarching mystery, but in the last quarter of the game, your attention switches from helping listeners to unraveling what’s really going on.

It feels akin to how Killer Frequency keeps its premise and its puzzles largely separate. The mystery story isn’t bad, it just feels cut off from most of the game’s action when integrating them would have made for a much more satisfying experience.

Though your radio show never plays into puzzles quite enough, it’s exactly what elevates Killer Frequency to one of my favorite games so far this year. Killer Frequency is packed with incredible voice acting, with Nash and Peggy’s constant banter being particular highlights. Their rapport is some of the best I’ve heard from game characters in a long time, and I can’t remember the last game that made me laugh out loud half as much as Killer Frequency.

Not every call you take is from a murder-victim-to-be. In between lifesaving advice, you’ll hear from teen pranksters, late-night joggers, and local business owners trying to sneak free ads into your show. These calls bring Gallows Creek to life even though you hardly catch a glimpse of it apart from your radio station.

Since it centers on a radio show, it should be no surprise that music is a big part of Killer Frequency. In between callers, you can choose a record to spin from a small but excellent selection of synth-heavy tracks. If you explore the station enough, you’ll even find new albums to add to your collection, and frequent breaks in the action let you listen as long as you’d like.

Between the fantastic soundtrack and the delicate balance of humor and terror, Killer Frequency skillfully captures the feel of a cheesy ‘80s slasher flick. It’s packed with overt references to classic horror movies, but more than that, it borrows its tone and even some plot points from an era of horror that prized tension over gore. I’m on record as a complete scaredy cat, but Killer Frequency’s spooky sleepover vibes let even me enjoy living through a horror movie.

Score: 8/10

Pros:

Captures the feeling of a campy ‘80s slasher movie

Filled with smart, funny writing and voice acting

Clever puzzles test logic and investigation skills

Fantastic retro soundtrack

Cons:

Puzzles get repetitive before the end

Radio DJ premise isn’t used to its full potential

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